Who doesn’t like getting a nice greetings or thank you card? Even better when it is a chocolate greetings card. But probably the best of all is a chocolate telegram.
When I first heard about this chocolate telegram from Chocol@, I fell in love with the concept. When my own telegram arrived I was truly smitten. It was a long brown leather-like box containing 36 chocolate squares spelling out: CHOCLOGBLOG. CHOCOLATES. THX. CHOCOL@.
What a fabulous and witty idea. Compose a personalised message to your friends, family or business contacts, get it written in chocolate and then have it sent through the post to arrive at their door.
The chocolates on which the letters and characters are printed are square in shape, which gives it an air of a superior (and edible) scrabble board. I’m a seasoned Twitter user and rather like the idea of condensing a tweet’s 140 characters down to 36. Constructing a cogent message will focus the mind and chances are it will live on in the memory as sweeter than most tweets.
Chocolate Telegram
The chocolates, by Belgian chocolatier, Jean-Philippe Darcis, are a mixture of dark, milk and white and have various fillings according to the letter, number or character on the top. They are described as being made with the finest ingredients, but I was unable to discover what these were.
When I perused the accompanying leaflet, I was gutted to find I didn’t have a single salted butter caramel. It was obviously a near miss though as there are 14 flavours and 56 characters, so every flavour is repeated several times. Apparently, I needed an 8, K or Q. If you like word play, the description of each letter and character on the website is worth a read in itself.
“G Spot: These few grams are filled with enough gusto to propel you to the seventh heaven of taste pleasure. You can go gaga over this lemon flavour in a chocolate robe. We’ll understand. It’s all in good taste”.
The Packaging
The chocolates are very nicely presented and are sturdily packed. Despite this a couple of mine broke in transit. I was rather hoping there would be a second layer nestled under the first; there was certainly room for one. But my greedy hopes were not realised.
The box is sturdy, deep and of good size, measuring 10 by 38 cm. The material is some sort of soft leather substitute in brown with gold stitching and you close the box by means of a magnetic catch. Once the chocolates have gone, you can use it for any number of purposes. CT thought a refill was the most appropriate. Now, the box might be useful, but what about the taste of the chocolates? CT and I got stuck in.
On opening the box, there was a good strong smell of chocolate which permeated our nostrils and stimulated our tastebuds. We found we couldn’t eat many in one go, which is usually a sign of a good quality chocolate, one that is rich with complex flavours rather than just pure sugar.
The Chocolate Telegram Chocolates
G- Milk chocolate enrobes a dark chocolate lemon ganache. It’s quite sharp in a nice way and not too sweet.
C – Poppy – dark chocolate covering a dark chocolate ganache with an unfamiliar taste I couldn’t identify. Trying it after the lemon made it taste bitter and strange, but when I had it on a clean palate, it tasted quite different and I liked it. CT whose tastebuds are somewhat more refined than mine thought he could detect a poppy flavour. Just as well we liked them, because there were a lot of them, being ……O
H – White chocolate covers a liquid caramel which was delicious despite being rather sweet. White chocolate seems an odd pairing for a sweet caramel we thought.
T – Dark chocolate covers jasmine tea flavoured dark chocolate ganache. The flavour of jasmine was quite noticeable and it had the drying quality of dark chocolate and tea. We both really liked this one.
A- Dark chocolate enrobes a violet ganache. This one was truly powerful, not in the least bit subtle, but very nice if you like parma violets, which I do. It wasn’t too sweet.
S – Dark chocolate enrobes a nutty praline with crispy bits. Very tasty and not too sweet.
B – Milk chocolate with a coffee ganache – not too strong and quite sweet.
Lips & Smily Face – Dark chocolate covers a liquid ginger caramel which was gorgeous. It’s warming and spicy and not too sweet.
If you ever get tired of saying it with flowers, you can now say it with chocolate – from £38. You could have a lot of fun dreaming up complex words that incorporate all of the flavours.
Chocolate Cards by Post
If a chocolate telegram sounds a bit over the top, how about a chocolate greetings card? Last year, I tried a service whereby you can personalise an 80g bar of smooth Belgian milk chocolate with a picture and/or words of your choice printed onto it. It was a great idea from Scottish company Chocmotif. But, sadly, it’s no longer in business.
I’m keeping the idea going though in the hope that someone else might take up the idea.
When the postman knocked on the door, I wasn’t at all sure what to expect. Making the initial selection wasn’t the most straightforward of processes and one of the templates I wanted to use didn’t seem to work. In the end I went for the simplest of the templates, which was a rectangular picture with your own words. For the first, I used a photo of my figgy Victoria sandwich as a thank you for my friend Victoria. And for the second, a photo of ox-eye daisies from our plot for my gardening fanatic friend Lorna.
As it turned out, I was really happy with my cards. In fact I’m quite excited by them and now can’t wait to give them to the intended recipients. The quality of the picture printed on the chocolate is excellent. Sadly I can’t say the same for the photos I took of the product.
The Product
The chocolate comes framed within a card forming the inside picture, but it’s easy to remove for consumption. The card itself has an attractive exterior design and comes with a matching gift tag. The whole thing is enclosed in a sturdy card envelope and is very tastefully done. I have to confess, I wasn’t expecting it to be so good.
I haven’t tried the chocolate, it seemed a bit rude to sink my teeth into somebody else’s bar, so I can’t really comment on the quality. However, it is Belgian couverture with a 30% cocoa solids content. It is also nut and gluten free, which is a big plus for those with allergies who often find it difficult to source suitable chocolate. The printing is all done with edible food dyes and the ingredients are listed on the envelope.
At £5.99 I think this gift represents good value, although you should be aware that postage and packing is extra. It is such an original and fun product, allowing the purchaser to create something unique and personal. Any frustration I experienced at the time of ordering is now forgotten.
Quite a few services that sent chocolate by post are no more. Who’d have thought there wouldn’t be enough demand for chocolate? French chocolates by post was another one I was particularly sad to see go.
Let Us Know
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you try sending a chocolate telegram or indeed any chocolate cards, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do share photos on your preferred social media site and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
For more chocolate reviews take a look at my chocolate review category. You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.
I was sent a Chocol@ telegram to review. There was no requirement to write a positive review. As always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for your support of the brands and organisations that help to keep Tin and Thyme blithe and blogging.
styles5433 says
A great idea !!
ManjiriK - sliceoffme says
brilliant idea bang on time for valentines I say ! I want to gobble the poopy ones ummm
Emma Julia says
What a fantastic idea!
Lou, Eat Your Veg says
Great idea for a fun (and yummy) pressie! Perfect for Valentines Day I’d say, all you romantics out there take note.
anna @ annamayeveryday says
What a great idea, wouldn’t that be a treat to receive!
Dannii@hungryhealthyhappy.com says
Love it! This would be perfect for my husband.
Tina Anand says
This looks like a fun concept, perfect for Valentines.
Caroline says
Looks great, it is quite expensive though!
Bintu @ Recipes From A Pantry says
Man, I would love one or two or three of these.
Choclette says
Haha, sounds like you need to drop a few heavy hints to Bintu.
Galina Varese says
Who can I hint to that I want it for my birthday in February? maybe I should keep posting images on Facebook and hope someone will send me such a lovely box. 🙂
Choclette says
Sounds like lots of heavy hints are required Galina.
Sylvia F. says
Great gift idea! I’m a chocoholic so I don’t mind sending them to myself 🙂
Choclette says
Great idea. And you can give yourself the perfect message too.
Sarah Trivuncic says
Wow! That’s such a cool gift idea! I wish my family were into twitter and they’d get the joke!
Choclette says
Good point Sarah, the name could be quite meaningless to those not on Twitter.
Jane Sarchet says
What a fab gift that would make for teh chocoholics in my life!
Janie x
Choclette says
I think so too Jane 🙂
Karen S Booth says
I LOVE this idea too and I HAVE sent one of these to my daughter when she was promoted at work! Great fun!
Choclette says
Fantastic Karen, I bet she loved it. Did she?
Nayna Kanabar says
I saw some chocolates like these at salon du chocolat nad I bought them with personalised names.They make nice gifts.
Choclette says
Oh how lovely Nayna – I bet the recipients were pleased.
Kath says
OOh yes please! Although I am not sure I could bring myself to eat the message… What am I saying? Of course I could.
Choclette says
Well Kath, it was a little tough, but I was brave …
Fiona Maclean says
oh isn’t it wonderful. well jel as my friends say!
Choclette says
Well jel? That’s a new one on me Fi, so I’ll assume it’s a compliment.
Jacqueline Meldrum says
I love it too. What a brilliant idea and so personal!
Choclette says
I was really taken with it and haven’t seen anything else quite like it before.
belleau kitchen says
I love this so much… I think we should start a chocolate chain letter… you can start by sending one to me!
Choclette says
Haha, great idea Dom – no nasty messages though.